Calling all Adventure Guides

Adventure guides offer something different to their clients. With them you will not get the accompanied tour of the White House or the Streetside Cafes of France. To the contrary when these guys are done with you, you would have had an experienced hear rate, gotten wet or dirty (at least sweaty) and have experienced something that only a select few travelers ever do.

The general public is however not always aware of what adventure guides have to offer so lets tell them! This is your opportunity to create awareness for the industry, and in return get some exposure for your operation.

Here’s the deal: Answer the questions below, then post a comment with your company web address or email, and a short scribble on what you have to offer. Were looking forward to hear from you!

This poll closes on Monday 27 June, don’t be late!

The poll is now officially closed. For the results, analyses and further comments, please visit the Analysis Post. We will run more polls in the future, giving an opportunity for guides to better understand their clients, and vice versa.

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7 comments on “Calling all Adventure Guides”

Id love to get your view on professional guiding. Do you think that a guide’s expectations is properly matched with that of their clients? You are welcome to post anonymous of leave a link to your guiding company, either way is cool!

No and yes. Very seldom are the clients perceptions in line with the guides intentions, however the guide should be very sensitive to each individuals needs. The clients expectations are as varied as thier hair- styles, some want maximum adrenaline and want to be taken to the brink, others want to just be mildly entertained with minimum risk, some dont have a clue what they are in for, I once had a lady in her 40’s all suited up, life-jaket, helmet and even a wet suit, about to embark on a full day of grade 4 white water rafting, she looked up at me with wide eyes and asked, ” We wont be getting wet will we?” All guides are trained to have only one thing on thier minds, “How can I ensure that everybody is 100% safe!” The clients on the other hand often just want to have the maximum amount of fun and are often oblivios to just how much risk they are in, thats my job after all. LIfes little ironies, my overly seltered upbringing probably made me attracted to adventure as an adult but when I became a professional adventure guide, I found myself empathising with my over protective mother.

Safety must always come first, but should not stifle the feeling of adventure. There’s a narrow line between adventure and misadventure, but life without adventure isn’t really living! The trick is to get the balance right, especially when dealing with clients.

Franz, half of the options in your polls should be taken for granted, whether they are main sell-points or not considered by clients.
(ie a software client may be completely unaware they require secure hosting, or particular standards of coding, but a pro would be a dupe to not bundle this in the way they do things)

Guides allow clients to ‘explore’ (a place / activity / themselves) in whatever intensity or fashion is appropriate for the particular client (and those vary widely)
The guides job is to allow them to do so in a safe environment, allow them to have fun/grow, and to provide the logistics that would for the client be either inconvenient or impossible to organise themselves.

For what purpose are you taking the poll?

Ant

(Rock and mountain walking guide, now with a finance job so I don’t get to guide/instruct as often anymore)

Hi Ant, Thank you for contributing. Very valid comments, and I agree with you on the importance of the items (although I think they all are – my opinion). It would be interesting though to see what guides (and their clients – in the accompanying post) view as the top three priorities. After the deadline I will write a new post, analyzing these results. Forcing participants to choose a top three is deliberate.

As to why, please look at http://trailblazerguide.com/about/
Part of the goal is to promote responsible guiding, and to educate/inform prospective clients on the challenges and responsibilities of an adventure guide. It is also to promote responsible operators and the adventure guiding industry.

I believe the guiding industry has a lot to give. Sometimes the guides, and their clients forget that.

Please share this post on social media: the more guides that contribute, the more reliable the end results. Same goes for the sister-post for the clients.

Hi Franz, I agree with quite a few of the comments above. I do think that in order to provide a safe adventure experience, elements like well-trained guides, registrations & insurance and well maintained equipment are essential, but I also think that this is a case of ‘assumption is the master of all deceit’. Clients will often assume / take for granted that their guides / operators will have the necessary safety regulations in place, but, sadly, since there is very little in the way of law enforcement in our country regarding the adventure industry, many operators often do not adhere to these assumed minimum standards.